Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / El estudio propuesto aquí evalúa las actitudes de estudiantes en el colegio hacia la diversidad en Estados Unidos, el aprendizaje de español, la educación bilingüe y la motivación de aprender una lengua extranjera. Tambien, compara las actitudes de estudiantes tradicionales y de estudiantes en un programa de inmersión. los programas de inmersión y clases tradicionales no resultan en actitudes completamente diferentes hacia aspectos importantes de lenguas extranjeras. Tienen perspectivas similares hacia la integración de personas de culturas diferentes en sus escuelas y clases. Además, están de acuerdo sobre la importancia de español y los programas que promueven el bilingüismo en los Estados Unidos. Los estudiantes en el programa bilingüe tienen actitudes más positivas hacia la educación bilingüe, pero los resultados no muestran que tienen actitudes más positivas hacia el aprendizaje de español ni una motivación más alta que los estudiantes tradicionales.

Scholarly research on the subject of the swift pace of change in support for same-sex marriage has evolved significantly over the last ten years. The shift has gone beyond the scholarship's initial description amongst demographic groups on how opinion has changed on gay rights issues, like same-sex marriage, to an examination of why the change has occurred. A great deal of the initial research on the topic seemed to focus on demographic traits that suggested a greater propensity toward support for same-sex marriage as time went on. Is the existent literature sufficient to explain why such a dramatic change in public opinion has occurred in the United States? My goal in this paper is to explore the plausibility that electoral events and the public dialogue/debate that surround them have accelerated the impact described in the four predominant theories, cohort succession, contact theory, intracohort theory, and media exposure. This paper includes three separate hypotheses to explore the possible connections between efforts to restrict gay rights at the ballot box and the ever-increasing support for same-sex marriage in public opinion polls. The results provide some preliminary indication that there are plausible connections between individual statewide efforts to restrict gay rights and increases in national public opinion support for same-sex marriage. The first analysis examines electoral events concerning gay rights in states where these issues have faced voters most frequently; California, Maine, and Oregon. The first hypotheses posits a potential connection between exposure to gay rights at the ballot box and greater support for gay rights in subsequent elections concerning gay rights in the same state. No clear or consistent pattern of support emerges for successive electoral measures concerning gay rights where voters have been previously exposed to gay rights question in an electoral context. The second analysis explores national public opinion support for same-sex marriage as statewide ballot measures increase in popularity across the United States. The second hypotheses posits a connection between an increase in statewide electoral events concerning questions of same-sex marriage and an increase in national public opinion support for same-sex marriage with state-to-nation diffusion occurring and prodding upward national public opinion support for same-sex marriage simultaneously. The hypotheses is confirmed by data that suggests as election events on same-sex marriage increase across the United States at the state level, so too increases national public opinion support for same-sex marriage. The third analysis explores the rate of change in support for legal same-sex marriage across the three states where gay rights referenda and ballot initiatives have been most frequent; it posits that in states where voters have greater familiarity with gay rights at the ballot because of previous exposure to them, their support will be greater over time than public opinion measured in other states that have similar political cultures but have not faced the same level of electoral activity on gay rights. The final hypothesis is inconclusive because of the fluid nature of the same-sex marriage debate in the universe of states within the United States. States are handling this salient issue in a number of ways; some legislatures now seem to be taking steps to legalize same-sex marriage statutorily; others may take no action to propel the provision of same-sex marriage equality or end constitutional bans on the practice; while another group of states are leaving activists to litigate the policy in Federal courts or shift the debate toward statewide popular votes on the issue of authorizing same-sex marriage at the ballot box via ballot initiative or referendum.

This cross-cultural study used the "Attitudes Toward Rape Victims Survey" (ARVS), designed by Ward (1984), to examine the attitudes of college students in New Zealand and the United States. The instrument (ARVS) is the first of its kind to test for victim blame, and the first to be limited to the assessment of attitudes toward the rape victim specifically. Subjects were 205 students from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, and 508 students from the University of Arizona, Tucson. The survey responses were analyzed to determine cultural differences in attitudes, according to gender and age. Findings would suggest that the United States students were more sympathetic toward the rape victim, less likely to believe traditional rape myths, and more ready to assign male responsibility for the assault than were New Zealand students. New Zealand women appeared less aware of the implications of sexual assault than both United States men and women, and New Zealand men. New Zealand men demonstrated greater awareness than United States men. Older students in both countries tended to be more conservative in their responses than were the younger students. Although there was a significant cultural difference according to age and gender, scores were consistently low for each sample, indicating a general acceptance of traditional rape myths and a continuing tendency to assign to women the responsibility for sexual assault. Several conclusions were drawn from the data analysis. There is a significant cultural difference in attitudes toward the female victim of rape, between New Zealand and United States college students, according to age and gender. However, both cultures retain a strong belief in traditional rape myths. Responses to the ARVS seem to support the views of current theorists: that attitudes toward rape and incidence of rape are culturally predisposed by factors such as domination and aggression in men, passivity and submission in women, fear of the "feminine," and stereotypic sex roles. It is recommended that more research be undertaken on cross-cultural attitudes toward rape victims.

Higher education is one of the most expensive services an individual will ever purchase, yet many question whether enough information is available to higher education consumers to make informed decisions. The objective of this study was to determine the degree of personal experience higher education writers at selected major daily newspapers have with for-profit colleges and how those experiences affect the perceptions they have of the colleges. The second objective of the research focused on how much coverage for-profit colleges receive based on workforce projections, compared to traditional colleges.The study tested two hypsothees:1. Higher education staff writers at the selected major daily newspapers have little personal experience with for-profit, degree-granting colleges, compared to traditional colleges, resulting in neutral-to-negative perceptions.2. Despite predictions that a high percentage of jobs will require an education beyond high school but not necessarily a traditional four-year college degree, for-profit colleges receive less coverage than traditional colleges in the selected major daily newspapers.A five-page questionnaire was mailed to the person covering higher education at the major daily newspaper in mature ITT Technical Institute markets. Questions related to the amount of personal contact the journalists have with proprietary colleges and the perceptions they hold of these colleges as well as what they believe their readers' higher education needs are. Writers were also asked to indicate their agreement with several workforce projections and to report how many articles on specific topics were published in the last year. The study received a 54 percent response rate.The respondents were sorted twice, based on their personal contact and then based on their perceptions. Overall, respondents had about half as much contact with proprietary colleges as they did with traditional colleges in the past year, supporting the first part of Hypothesis 1. However, the largest percentage of respondents had some contact with proprietary colleges, resulting in positive-toneutral perceptions, disproving the first hypothesis overall. Delving further into the issue indicated that the more personal contact a journalist had with proprietary colleges, the more positive his or her perceptions of them were.The second hypothesis was supported however, in that traditional public colleges were contacted as sources for articles more than for-profit colleges by a margin of 77 percent to 23 percent. Non-profit traditional colleges were contacted more by a margin of 49 percent to 23 percent.Further analysis found that the more contact a writer had with a proprietary college, the more positive his or her perception of this sector was and the more coverage for-profit colleges received. / Department of Journalism

Thesis. 1975. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Bibliography: leaves 142-146. / by Mathew A. Thall. / M.C.P.

Charakteristika uskupení NAFTA. Popis vztahů a jednotlivých sporů mezi členskými zeměmi. Rozbor veřejného mínění. Dopad na Kanadu a přístup Kanady ke uskupení NAFTA

Recent political and cultural trends have led to an evaluation of the meaning of marriage within American society, and especially marriage as it concerns couples of the same sex. However, little research has been done to find out how attitudes toward same-sex marriage might vary according to race and ethnicity. Drawing on data from the 2004 National Politics Study, the author investigates same-sex marriage attitudes and tests hypotheses concerning the attitudes of various American race-ethnic groups. This study employs multinomial logistic regression analysis to compare attitudes of African Americans, Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites. Results indicate that even when socio demographic factors such as education and gender are controlled for, ethnic groups still differ in their attitudes toward this topic. Analyses also indicate that the relationship between race/ethnicity and attitudes toward same-sex unions does not vary by gender and that foreign birth explains the relationship between Hispanic ethnicity and attitudes toward same-sex marriage.

Ideals of freedom, independence, and land ownership helped form and perpetuate the mythology of ranching in the United States. However, stereotypes emerged as a result of distortion from the media and the move away from the land. Social philosophies changed regarding the environment, land use, and the health and safety of the food supply in the late 20th century. In relation to the mythology, stereotype, and social theory regarding the ranching culture, this research seeks to clarify the fundamental principles, business philosophy, lifestyle, and values of men and women raising beef as a food product on both public and private lands in the 1990's. The mythology surrounding ranchers and cowboys are the result of three historical periods in the United States; however, the last 100 years have had the most profound effect in developing stereotypes. In this survey, 42 ranchers in Lake County, Oregon and Modoc County, California describe the challenges, satisfactions, and the partnership with Nature that is part of their livelihood in the harsh, high desert environment of eastern Oregon and northeastern California. The low ratio of private ground in these counties creates a dependency on use of public lands for grazing. This use if often stereotyped as "welfare ranching," without computation for other variables that make it comparable with private leasing. Historically, the Taylor Grazing Act authorizes fee grazing between ranchers and the U.S. government, but current philosophy has shifted its view of free enterprise on public lands, terming it "resource extraction." Although ranching is high in risk and low in economic return, ranchers stay in the business because they value freedom, hard work, family cohesiveness, and the interaction with Nature and the land. The future of ranching is challenged by environmental policy, government agency relations, public opinion, the high cost of land and production, and a lack of unity in the beef industry. To survive, ranchers need to unify, sharpen communication skills, provide education about ranching practices to the public, and become service-oriented as an organization to change stereotype and meet the social criteria of the next century. / Graduation date: 1998

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